My last class!

"One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until you try." - Sophocles

My last class was full of enthusiasm , participation and good vibrations. Though there were some little things that I consider could do the difference... I think it was because today almost almost all the girls were trying to make the environment of the class in the mood of learning English. The topic was about "present progressive using WH questions". I was afraid because of the students level and how to teach the grammar part. I prepared flash cards with different parts of a question and gave them in order to make them form a "human question" each student form a part of the structure and then, they read it aloud. Later, they practiced the wh words using different colors and asking each other questions related to actions that they were performing. I was very happy. The sitting arrangement was good, but I found two students writing and doing homework while the practice. So, I decided to change them.
They didn´t want at the beginning, but later they worked. The time managment was better than the last class. I felt this time I distributed my time better. I´m happy for my development today even when I´m sure it would be better. I have learned many things from my tutor, she has been very kind and gentle; she teaches with love and patience. It probably helped me to achieve more knowledge. If I had to teach this lesson, I would use more emphasis in pronunciation.

My fourth class

Tuesday,September,21st,2010

I had a different experience in the classroom., today. It seemed like if all the girls had eaten chocolate or any kind of candy because they were very excited. I think it was because they had an evaluation the next class. At the beginning of the class some of them were a little reluctant in practicing in front of the class and some others were very excited cheering them up. It reminded me the children of a normal kindergarden class. In fact, they are studying to be kindergarden teachers. They expressed me that they felt affraid about the evaluation they had, and perhaps the children had transmitted the feeling in the morning during their practicum. I really felt little angry with them ,but I could understand their mood, so I tried to be patient, but not bawd.Even though it was the part of grammar explanation,I tried to design some exercises in which they could practice in front of the class.
The topic was about the use of " a quarter to and a quarter for..." so, I decided to bring a clock for the class. I had a funny and unforgettable experience with it. When I pasted the clock on the board, a hand fell down and I had to create one improvised with paper and masking tape. At the end all students participated even when some of them were talking to much. In my opinion they should take into account that there are only 2 classes during the week. The teacher told them to be more responsible with the other activities of the subject I think it is necessary to have extra energy when they are moody.
They formed groups and made some exercises about the time expressions at the end I could feel that they had clarified some of the doubts they had about the previous class. They were practicing and behaving better at the end of the class and I consider my possition helped them to change their ways. If I had to teach this lesson again, I defenitely would be more emotionaly prepared to help those kinds of students in such as those peculiar days . After all this is the challenge of a teacher ,but also the duty of student... even when there are ups and downs the show must go.

Class 3, Technical English

Thursday, September 16, 2010

In spite of getting tired of planning , something strange has happened this week. I had experienced the joy of teaching English . I had a different class today. It was about time expressions. The activities prepared were good enough to make the students practice by themselves. During the warm-up they had fun telling the time. I felt nice when I saw them enjoying the class. It was a nice activity.They practiced a short dialogue about different time expressions without looking at the textbook only paying attention to the pronunciation. After that, they formed pairs and created a similar dialogue. It was supposed that only 3 pairs would perform the conversation , but at the end all of them wanted to pass voluntarly and being sincere it took me by surprise and I didn´t have any other solution than let them practice. Even when some of them have difficulties in pronunciation they tried and it helped them to learn more; they are also very humble and it is one of the things I really like about the group. The other activities were good , even when I couldn´t have a correct management of the time during the grammar explanation.











The activity was good , but I think it was not for the group it would be better for intermediate levels. It was the identification of some rules through examples, they formed groups and tried to identify the rules after my explanation. I noticed that the time wasn´t enough to explain . As a result there were some gaps about the grammar explanation that I wish I could explain the next class. If I had to teach this lesson again ,I would be more concerned about the time distribution and the level of activities to make the students learn as easy as possible.
Check this video to teach time expressions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icBxO6Wjz0

Teaching Technical English, class 2

Thursday, September 9,2010
This week has been full of pivoral experiences that have helped me to be alert during the class taking into account the social circumstances and the enviroment of the students and how it influences in the learning aquisition and levels of attention of the class. Today there were a lot of distractions in the class and one of the biggest was the fact that the whole country is suffering a social disturbances related to violence and delinquence. I could feel the students´fear during the class. Even though there were 12 of 23 students in the class,I had to apply extra effort in order to make them feel comfortable. At least I wanted to make them forget about the danger and try to focus on the class. The topic was about clothes and weather conditions and it was excellent to use adjectives to describe the weather conditions for today because it was raining and it was hot at the same time. During the warm up they had to use their memory to remember different clothes using the letters of the alphabet and running to write first than the rest. After that, they practice a conversation in which they talked about the weather and it was pretty nice seeing that they liked to practice in front of the class. They were active even when some of them were saying rumors about the danger situations that they were also facing. I could notice that they try to feel calm and help their classmates to be positive. It helped us to feel the class shorter. The classroom management was nice because there were few students and they could work in small groups they made collages of clothes according to the seasons and weather conditions. The time management was not excellent ,but acceptable because I could finish with all the activities programmed. I would like to continue with the same group the last period because they are so positive and kind. If I had to teach this lesson again , I would like to use more colorful flash cards because this time I didn´t bring the ones I wished to use.

Teaching English in Technical English 1

I began with my classes of the second period this week. It was a nice experience to have a large group with only women as students. I felt very comfortable at the beginning of the class because the girls were very kind and active since the class started until the end of it. Even though I could see some of them talking about the difficultoes that English represents for them and that they can´t understand everything. I took that as a prevention of being ready to help them , as the professor said: " Help them to understand and use the vocabulary". The class was about the possessive adjectives and pronouns and it was very nice to see that even when some of the students don´t like English they try to participate and all of them have fun during the class. I did a short diagnostic of their English levels in order to know how they are developing the skills. I could notice that this group is divided in two.One side is the group of the girls who have passed the 10 levels in the extension program and the other side is the group of the girls who haven´t had previous experience learning English. As a result, I must take more importance to prepare activities in which they can be mixted. They worked very nice and also practice the vocabulary individually and in pairs.Besides, the methodology helped them to participate actively because it was also about colors and clothes. Though not all the students participated because some of them were free and I asked them to choose a classmate to go to the front or do a specific exercise. I will consider the application of activities in which all of them participate and if it is necessary no voluntarly. I think the sitting arrangement was good,but the classroom is very small.If I have to teach this lesson again, I will be sure to take into consideration the tips that the Professor gave me such as be ready to observe and try to make the students who don´t like english feel comfortable and encourage them to learn through practice.